The Spaniards voted today in municipal and regional elections that will serve as a prelude to the general ones in six months, in which, according to surveys, the progressive government of the president Pedro Sanchez he could be defeated by the right-wing opposition.
Some 35.5 million people were authorized to vote in one of the thousands of voting centers, which will close at 8:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. in Argentina), in order to renew the authorities of the municipalities and parliaments, and therefore governments of 12 of the 17 regions of the country.
Analysts say that if the government coalition exceeds expectations and manages to maintain control of most regions, it indicates that the next general elections will be very close and bodes well for its chances of staying in power.
But if, as the polls predict, there is a turn to the right, the leader of the Popular Party (PP), the main opposition formation, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, could “take advantage of this momentum” to come to power in the elections.
The Government of Pedro Sánchez subjected to criticism
The President -head of the Government- since 2018, Sánchez, of the socialist PSOE party, arrives at this electoral test with disadvantages: the wear and tear of power, as well as high inflation – although lower than in most European countries – and the resulting drop in purchasing power.
The President of the Government cast his vote in a school in Madrid, the capital, and then asked the public to vote “positive” because “the stronger democracy will be and the better it will be for the institutions,” he said, the news agency Europa reported. Press.
The government’s image has suffered from repeated clashes between the PSOE and its coalition partner, the left-wing Podemos party.
Núñez Feijóo has sought to present the elections as a plebiscite on Sánchez, whom he accuses of being subservient both to the left and to the pro-independence parties of the Basque Country and Catalonia, which usually support the government to approve its reforms.
“I have come to ask for the vote of Spain that wants to repeal ‘sanchismo’ from this very Sunday,” launched Núñez Feijóo on Friday night at the campaign closing ceremony in Madrid, using the term with which he refers to the government.
On his side, Sánchez campaigned, sticking his chest out of his government’s balance sheet, especially in economic matters or in the fight against drought and water management, an increasingly central issue in Spain, a European country on the front line in the face of change climate.
“Social democratic policies suit Spain better than neoliberal ones, we manage the economy much better,” Sánchez said Friday night in Barcelona.
Of the 12 regions that will renew their parliament, 10 are led by the Socialists, either directly or in coalition.
The number of regions that the PP manages to wrest from the Socialists will determine whether Núñez Feijóo can affirm that he has won this first round of elections and his triumph at the end of the year is inevitable.
The main problem for the right-wing leader is that he probably needs the extreme right of Vox, the third force in the national Parliament, to form a government in some regions, and even at the national level in general.
The PP has already governed with Vox in the rural region of Castilla y León since last year, but is regularly embarrassed by the positions taken by its ultranationalist ally, especially on abortion.
Aware that the general elections are won with a more centrist discourse, Núñez Feijóo has made an effort to present a moderate image and keep Vox at bay, but a good result for the extreme right on Sunday would complicate things for him.
The campaign for the municipal and regional elections was marked in its last days by scandals of buying votes by mail in several localities, which in certain places involved elected officials or socialist candidates.
Although they were specific cases, they meant bad news for Sánchez, who likes to compare his government with the previous right-wing one, which was rocked by notorious corruption scandals.
Source: Ambito
